ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office on Monday confirmed with regrets that Pakistan’s participation as a non-member state in the “High-level Dialogue on Global Development” on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) meetings was blocked by “one member”, apparently India.

The ‘High-level Dialogue on Global Development’ was held on June 24 in the virtual format on the sidelines of the BRICS meetings, which was also attended by a number of non-member countries, besides the five-member states. However, Pakistan did not attend the moot.

Responding to media queries, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar, Monday, confirmed that Pakistan’s participation was blocked by one member state without naming any.

“We have noted that this year a ‘High-level Dialogue on Global Development’ was held as a BRICS side event in which a number of developing/ emerging economies were invited. China being the host country engaged with Pakistan prior to the BRICS meetings, where decisions are taken after consultations with all BRICS members, including extending invitation to non-members. Regrettably one member blocked Pakistan’s participation,” he stated.

However, he added that Pakistan hopes that future engagement of the organization would be based on the principles of inclusivity, keeping in view the overall interests of the developing world and in a manner that is devoid of narrow geopolitical considerations.

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“Pakistan stands ready to work with all developing countries, including the BRICS members for addressing the challenges faced by the global community,” he added.

The spokesperson also congratulated China on the successful hosting of the BRICS meetings.

“We appreciate China’s role in promoting the interests of the developing countries.

Together with China, Pakistan has been a strong voice for global peace, shared prosperity and inclusive development. Pakistan is the current chair of G77+China and also part of group of friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI),” he added.

He said that Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic partners and our iron brotherhood remains rock solid.

The two countries are fully committed to take our all-round cooperation to higher levels both bilaterally and multilaterally, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022